Institutional Development Scheme Collaborative Research Grant
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Open for application now! Please refer to call circular.
IMPORTANT DATES
What Is It?

The Institutional Development Scheme (IDS) Collaborative Research Grant aims to encourage and support collaborative research involving two or more self-financing institutions1, and / or group research activities that operate across disciplines2 within an institution, with a view to enhancing the research output of self-financing institutions in terms of the level of attainment, quality, dimensions and / or speed.

1
For cross-institutional research proposal, the project team should have at least one eligible Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) from a local self-financing degree-awarding institution other than that of the Project Coordinator (PC).
2
For cross-disciplinary research proposal, the research proposal should cover at least two research fields from different subject disciplines.
What Makes It Special?
  1. There is no limit in the number of applications submitted by an institution. Institutions are strongly encouraged to screen the proposals to ensure that only proposals having a high academic standard are submitted to the RGC.
  2. The normal project duration is three years.
  3. Funding covers direct costs involved in conducting the research project and on-costs of 15% of the approved project costs.
  4. The total funding for each project will be in the range of HK$2 million to HK$10 million (inclusive of the 15% on-costs).
Who Is Eligible?
  1. Application should be submitted by an applicant nominated as the PC. Other joint applicants will be regarded as Co-PIs. Each Co-PI must have a clear, distinct and material role.
  2. A full-time academic staff who is engaged by one of the local self-financing degree-awarding institutions with at least a one-year renewable contract with the institution at the time of funding award being made3 and spending at least 80% of time in locally-accredited local degree or higher degree work4 in the institution is eligible to submit application in the capacity of PC / Co-PI. Institutions are responsible for interpreting and confirming whether an applicant has fulfilled the eligibility requirements announced in the Call for Proposals.
  3. Each applicant may submit one application in the capacity of PC in each exercise. There is no limit in the number of applications submitted in the capacity of a Co-PI or Co-Investigator (Co-I). However, the Co-PI needs to declare all his / her research proposals / projects in the application and to justify that he / she could deploy sufficient attention to each of the funded projects.
  4. There is no eligibility requirement for Co-Is. They can be any personnel working in the same or different local self-financing degree-awarding institutions, UGC-funded universities, or other local / overseas institutions or organizations.
  5. To encourage collaboration among self-financing institutions and / or collaboration across disciplines within an institution, proposals without Co-PI will not be accepted.
3
Academics from UGC-funded universities may take up the role of Co-PI in the projects. Since the research funding is ring-fenced for the self-financing sector, the project grant cannot be transferred to the UGC sector.
4
A PC / Co-PI who is / will be seconded to conduct research in a university or a research institute / body / agency in the Mainland / overseas jurisdiction while retaining his / her full-time appointment and position with his / her parent institution and is still on the payroll of the parent institution is eligible to apply for the IDS Collaborative Research Grant.
Assessment Criteria

The assessment criteria are as follows:

  1. academic merit;
  2. long-term goal of the proposal and its potential to develop into an area of strength;
  3. opportunities for effective synergy among the participating researchers, research groups and institutions;
  4. viability of the proposal, particularly in terms of its project management. The project team's ability to put in place an effective governance structure to monitor collaborating work and to ensure prudent deployment of resources would be important considerations;
  5. the potential research impact of the proposal, which is defined as the demonstrable contributions, beneficial effects, valuable changes or advantages that the research qualitatively brings to the economy, society, culture, public policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life; and that are beyond the academia. It may include social and economic impacts and research that translates into products and services, as well as research that aligns with important policy, community and social objectives.

Selection interview will be conducted with the project team of each shortlisted application.

Application Procedures

Applications should be made in the prescribed application form and submitted through the applicant’s affiliated institution. All applications should be submitted to the UGC Secretariat by 5:00 pm on 3 March 2025 (Monday).

To view the call circular, please click here.
To view the operation framework, please click here.
To download the application form, please click here.

Workshop

Workshop on Application for Competitive Research Funding Schemes for the Local Self-financing Degree Sector (7 November 2023)

IMPORTANT DATES